Ilford Cooltone FB

[Greg Y]

Somewhere in another thread, Drew W mentioned in passing that he really liked Ilford's Cooltone paper. On a whim, I added some in my following B&H order. Sure enough I like it ....but haven't used enough of it to really pinpoint why it shines ....but IMO it does. I've used it in 8x10 & 16x20 with a range of negatives from subtle to contrasty, with both Ansco 130 & LPD. It's sure a gem with mountain scenes in bright light.I like it as much as the Warmtone & more than the Classic. It's snappy and the tones are clean and the tonal range seems to be long. Would anyone else who's used it a bunch care comment about the characteristics they like in Ilford Cooltone.

Attachment 217386

[Drew Wiley]

Is that in the Bugaboos? I now routinely keep Cooltone on hand for all kinds of appropriate scenes, though part of my ongoing projects involves retrieving old high Sierra and Wind River Range negs and reprinting them, or just printing them for the first time, since some of them proved daunting to render back in Graded paper only days. I've also made a number of silver internegs from old 4X5 color chromes, which have come out quite rewarding on this particular paper. I routinely use gold toner afterwards for sake of real cooling. MGWT is the other paper I now routinely keep around, for sake of a different category of images; but it is sometimes appropriate even for mtn scenes if desert ranges are involved, or even to replicate more of a warm glow dawn effect to high altitude granite. But my old ice axe? I once routinely carried that, but now it's just hanging on a wall; and I recognize it will outlast not only me, but what little still remains of our glaciers here.

[JMO]

Thanks for this post, as I've had a box of 12x16in Ilford FB Cooltone in my dark room since I established it in 2014, but don't recall that I've actually used any of it. One reason for that is my favorite easel is a Saunders VT 1400 that's not designed for anything larger than 11x14in paper (but I have another LPL Saunders for up to 16x20in, which size paper I've also neglected). Now I'll have to use some of the FB Cooltone, and I'll report back here if I have anything worth adding. I usually lean toward Warmtone papers and use an Ansco 130 equivalent developer, or sometimes Dektol. ...

[Drew Wiley]

It will probably go somewhat annoyingly greenish in Dektol; you won't get a true neutral black. That also seems to be the case with other "cold tone" MQ developers. Fresh 130 works nicely. Amidol will do the trick, but there are some caveats.

[Greg Y]

Thanks Drew. Yes, the photo is in the Bugaboos. I've had the good fortune to spend hundreds of days there, both as an amateur and professional, ski touring and mountain climbing, and also heli-ski guiding for CMH Heli-skiing. It is one of those places that never loses its magic.

[Drew Wiley]

Well, maybe once the border opens back up, someday I'll be able to visit the Bugaboos myself, if I'm not already so old as to be mistaken for a limping local mountain goat. I'm still rolling the dice with respect to this summer or early fall, guessing where we'll be free from severe forest fire smoke. Couldn't get away from it anywhere last year.

[Greg Y]

Drew, I'm guessing we all have our fingers crossed. I still have the Wind Rivers on my hit list.

[Drew Wiley]

I did a two-weeker in the northern Winds two summers ago with 4x5 gear - saw more moose than people, but that's what I was hoping for. Three reasons why I might not opt for there again this year: exceptionally high gas prices; a climber friend of mine who warned that a particular section of it I want to photograph is likely seeing far more visitation by climbers during pandemic circumstances than normally (not the Cirque of the Towers; I wisely timed that trip a number of years ago for bad climbing weather/superb photo weather); and third, talking to Rangers recently here at Pt Reyes, on loan from Rock Mtn NP and its fire crews, telling me lots of bad fires have been already been sprouting in Colorado and Wyoming for several months now. But the Winds have ample big walls in certain portions with seemingly zero climbers around, if that's what you're after. The highest peaks like Gannett and Fremont do get routine visitation, as does Titcomb Basin and the Cirque. Still worth seeing.

The Winds per se do have dead pine stands, but these are relatively limited in size. But smoke coming in from other areas like the Absaroka Range or southern Idaho could be an issue. When I was last there, we were smelling smoke from a fire in the Wasatch Range in Utah. It spreads. Last year smoke from that monster fire in the over 8000 ft deep section of the San Joaquin River canyon just upriver from my home town reached all the way to Western Europe! The thermal cloud from that event was nearly 80,000 feet high for about a week, breaking all previously known records.

I'm waiting for my friend to return from his climbing in Wyoming with his usual sidekick, the former CEO of Black Diamond. As both photographers, we were planning on a two-weeker with some off-trail in Kings Canyon late summer; but drought conditions might make that dicey in sections. I'm nearly 72, so don't move as fast as I used to over long-haul terrain, especially with bulky camera gear along. Frankly, I'm getting lazy. But I'm looking for a little tune-up trip at high altitude soon, hoping it coincides with some stormy weather; but there's none on the forecast for July yet. Just storms of mosquitoes still.

[Greg Y]

Thanks for this post, as I've had a box of 12x16in Ilford FB Cooltone in my dark room since I established it in 2014, but don't recall that I've actually used any of it. One reason for that is my favorite easel is a Saunders VT 1400 that's not designed for anything larger than 11x14in paper (but I have another LPL Saunders for up to 16x20in, which size paper I've also neglected). Now I'll have to use some of the FB Cooltone, and I'll report back here if I have anything worth adding. I usually lean toward Warmtone papers and use an Ansco 130 equivalent developer, or sometimes Dektol. ...

JMO, I just finished some more prints with Cooltone & rather than open a new box of 11x14...I used some remaining Foma Variant 12x16. I've got some big easels.....but the 12x16" fits just inside the frame of the Saunders 11x14 easel (which was in position on the baseboard)....with the blades retracted all the way to the edges it works like a charm.

[JMO]

I'll check it out, thanks....